Tennis, Kyrgios beats Medvedev and is in the quarterfinals of the US Open

After the final in Wimbledon, the new feat of the Australian athlete

the character

Ten years of great creativity and a lot of recklessness, a destiny already written (by the others) of wasted talent, trains lost in abundance. But when the last car seemed to be past, bang! Gentlemen, here’s Nicholas Wilmy Kyrgios, the former bad boy who wants to be king. In the way of him. This year’s Wimbledon final – where he revealed himself at 19 by uprooting Nadal – changed him. After the party on the grass he attacked the torrid concrete of the US summer winning in Washington, last night on the Flushing Meadows plant lit up like a Broadway stage he took the quarters of the US Open for the first time, beating for the fourth time in 5 matches the world number 1 and defending champion of the Medvedev tournament.

A reversal that will shatter the world rankings: from Monday in place of Medvedev, dethroned by the flop, the eternal Nadal could return or the new generation of Ruud and Alcaraz could take office. What now, Nick? they asked him. “Now I want to go all the way. And I think it’s possible ». Kyrgios who at 27 becomes a reliable champion is the turning point you don’t expect. So much so that he didn’t expect it either. “I don’t know what’s going on. I just know that I finally wanted to do well here in New York, where I had never done much. There are many celebrities, I went on the pitch to show everyone that I too know how to win games like this ». No sooner said than done: 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-2, a first set of solace, twenty-one aces, 53 winners, dampened “no-look” that Federer raised, backhands pulled with the glove and the brass knuckles. A continuous attack on Medvedev’s security, transformed from a Dostoevskian demon into a resigned victim. “I think I played in the right way, in the third and fourth set then I felt free and I had a lot of fun, I’m really proud to have succeeded in the center”.

Also free to argue with the referee – in recent days he had spat and complained about the smell of marijuana hovering on the casual stands of Flushing – and to play a crazy smash in the field of others, committing a kilometric invasion without even bouncing the ball soaring due to a chipped volley from Medvedev. “A really stupid blow,” he later admitted, with the amused unawareness of the child.

“But I felt like I was playing on my suburban pitches in Canberra.” Imagination in power. What tennis desperately needs, especially now that Kyrgios’ side effects on himself and others – fines, obscenities, disrespect, games thrown, nervous breakdowns and roaring nostalgia for his Australia – seem to be minimized. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I feel like I’m playing for something bigger than myself. It’s like it took me six, seven years to struggle mentally, because I didn’t know how to deal with this world, and I was hurting myself. Now I have understood that there is a path to take, which cannot be escaped. I don’t go out every night anymore, I try to train at my best, I don’t want to disappoint people anymore ». Costeen Hatzi, his betrothed influencer (“I have a great girlfriend, she helps me a lot”) has a lot to do in the puzzle of the resurrection, and very little the modest position in the standings, n ° 23, daughter of the points that Wimbledon did not have this year distributed.

“I’m a different player than the one who finished No. 13 in the world (in 2016, ndr), I worked on my weaknesses. But I don’t care about the ranking, because it doesn’t matter, it rewards continuity, not value ». From loose cannon to favorite, today he has the litmus test against Karen Khachanov, n ° 31 in the world. A walk, in theory. Because the exceptional undertaking, as always, is to be normal. –